Yankari Game Reserve, The home of wildlife in Nigeria.

Yankari: Located in bauchi state, north eastern Nigeria, Yankari game reserve is a large wildlife covering an area of about 2,244 square kilometres in south central part of of bauchi state. The reserve is home to animals such as Hippopotamus, wild ox, crocodiles, roan gazella, waterbucks, African bush elephant, olive baboon, patas monkey, Tantalus monkey, roan antelope, western hartebeest, lion, African buffalo, and leopard.

It also has a large and diverse freshwater ecosystem around its freshwater springs and the Raji River.

Due to underground geothermal activity, Yankari National Park also features four warm water springs. The camp is named after the most well known of these, the Wikki Spring. The Wikki Warm Spring is the largest spring and is about 13.0 metres wide and 1.9 metres deep. It daily flows 21,000,000 litres of clear, spring water into the Gaji river. The spring has a constant temperature of 31.1 °C through the year during both day and night and has been developed for recreation. The “Wikki Camp” is the tourist centre of the park. Located about 42 kilometres from the main entrance gate, the camp is built beside, and named after, the Wikki warm spring, which is open for swimming 24 hours a day.

There are 110 furnished chalets with varying size and quality, ranging from the ‘’presidential’’ suites to the youth hostel, all of which are being upgraded in phases. The camp also provides a restaurant, bar and conference centre. Daily safari trips depart at least twice from the camp. Other warm water springs are Dimmil, Gwan, and Nawulgo springs. A fifth spring, Tungan Naliki, is the only cool spring in the park. Yankari game reserve also features hills like, Kalban Hill – meaning “flat place” a flat topped hill that gives tourists a complete view of the park, Kariyo Hill – located near the Marshal caves is a beautiful picnic ground, Paliyaram Hill – a popular camp for poachers, located 10 km from Wikki. The Tonlong Gorge – a scenic gorge with associated hills, buttes and escarpments located in the west of the park. Yankari game reserve is indeed a fun place to be.

Until I read this article I had never seen anything related to wildlife or game reserves in Nigeria. I suspect that the traditional media prefers to focus on topics that are more shocking or sensational. Is this area considered safe for foreign visitors because it sounds like a gem with all those hot springs?

Wow. That would be a nice place to have a vacation in. It is great to know that there are still places in the world that care for wildlife. I would love to go there to go on a safari tour and enjoy soaking in those warm springs.